


don't let fear of feeling fool you

by HannahPelham



Series: wizarding one shots [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, That old chestnut, muggle ofc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:55:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27524197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HannahPelham/pseuds/HannahPelham
Summary: AU. Fred moves to muggle London after the war, and meets a girl who will change his life.title from 'Tonight the Streets are Ours' by Richard Hawley
Relationships: Fred Weasley/Original Female Character(s)
Series: wizarding one shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2011768
Kudos: 9





	don't let fear of feeling fool you

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bit crap but it's got me out of writers block so we stan, am i right?

After the war, which he survived by the skin of his teeth, Fred Weasley decided to take a step out of his comfort zone, and move to muggle London. He found a nice apartment, secluded enough from most things to make using magic at home not much of an issue, and he got used to acting like a muggle in public. 

When he moved in, the first person to introduce themselves was his next-door neighbour, Dolly Butler. From what Fred could gather, Dolly was sweet and quiet and very very pretty indeed. He discovered that she owned a shop nearby, selling muggle clothes from times gone by. He often found himself popping in for a new tie to show off at Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, or the Burrow. 

Dolly always found a smile appearing on her face when Fred Weasley walked into her shop. She always had a tie saved behind the counter for him, she’d sort them as they came in and she’d hide one from view that she was sure he would like.

Eventually, Fred stopped coming into the shop for ties, but only because he and Dolly would have breakfast together every saturday morning at a cafe around the corner, and she’d give it to him then.

Fred became rather fond of the muggle way of life, in it’s own way, but he was definitely becoming fond of Dolly. He couldn’t stop thinking about her. How could he? When she was that pretty and kind and funny and everything Fred could ever hope for?

It took Fred months and months to pluck up the courage to ask Dolly on a date. He’d always been confident, it’s how he’d got away with so much at school.

“Dolly!” Fred called as he walked into her shop, the day he planned to ask her. 

“Fred! What are you doing here?” Dolly replied, beaming up at him from her seat behind the counter. 

“I think the more pertinent question is what are you doing on friday night?” Fred replied. That was the scary bit out of the way.

“Nothing, why?”

“Dinner? 7pm?”

Dolly was dumbstruck. She’d had a crush on Fred ever since he’d moved in next door, but she’d never done anything about it for fear of ruining their friendship, as cliche as that was. 

“Sure! Meet you outside my flat?” She replied, smiling widely. Fred let out a sigh of relief. 

“Be there or be square, Butler” He replied as he turned and walked out of the shop, trying to hide the huge grin on his face. 

Fred was unbelievably excited, but there was something bothering him. If he was going to date Dolly, and by god did he want to, he would have to tell her about magic. He couldn’t hide it for much longer, especially not if she was going to eventually meet his family. 

He met her outside her flat at 7 that friday evening, and he could hardly believe how amazing she looked. He was nervous about telling her, but then he remembered it was Dolly, and she was brilliant, so he had no reason to worry.

They went for dinner at a posh pub, and spent the whole time laughing. Dolly was sure of one thing, Fred Weasley was certainly a charmer. 

As they wandered back to their flats, Fred worked out how to tell her. 

“Do you want to come in for a drink?” He asked, worried. Dolly raised an eyebrow, making Fred laugh, distracting him from his task for a moment. 

“Not like that, I just don’t want this to end yet” He explained, it was true, to a point, but he had to do this tonight before he lost his nerve. 

They sat down in the small sitting room of Fred’s flat, and he decided it would be better to just tell her, like ripping off a plaster.

“I can do magic” He said, all of a sudden, “not like, card tricks and stuff, but like actual real magic with spells and stuff”

Dolly didn’t know what to do. Her eyes went wide, and her mouth fell open. She had no idea why, but she instantly believed him. 

Fred could see she was shocked, of course, but he felt he had to prove it. He pulled his wand out of a drawer.

“What can you do?” Dolly asked. Fred grinned and made her glass levitate out of her hand, before he apparated across the room. 

“There’s a whole magical community, we had to hide many centuries ago, but we’re still here. There’s been a war in our world not too long ago, we’re all still recovering” Fred explained, sitting back down next to her, “I nearly died, fighting at my old school, we all go to the same school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, to learn how to use our magic properly, and there was a battle there and I was nearly crushed by a bit of flying wall, we lost a lot of good people that day, but we won, and the wizarding world is returning to normal slowly”. 

He soon realised he had hardly drawn breath whilst telling her all that, and hadn’t paused to watch for a reaction. He sat there for a moment, trying to find words, when Dolly surprised him, maybe more than he had surprised her. She leant forward and kissed him gently. It was full of emotion and tenderness Fred realised he so obviously craved. He deepened the kiss, and pulled Dolly into his arms. This had turned out a lot better than he had expected. He’d expected her to call him mad and run away, he certainly hadn’t expected her to kiss him. 

The next Friday, Fred was nervous again. He was taking Dolly to Diagon Alley for their date, and he didn’t know how she’d take it. He’d decided to take her through the Leaky Cauldron, side-long apparation or floo powder might have been a bit much for her. 

The minute Dolly walked into Diagon Alley, she was struck by how well this world seemed to fit Fred. He dragged her by the hand through the crowds, and explained things as they went, explaining owls and Ollivanders, potions and Quidditch. Eventually, they stopped in front of a brightly coloured shop, and Dolly looked up at the sign.

_ Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes _

“I run a joke shop with my brother” Fred said with a smile, as he dragged her inside. They spent hours wandering around the shop, Fred explaining every product and the story behind their creation. Dolly was completely entranced, not just by the amazing place she was in, but by Fred. Seeing him in his natural habitat made him make so much more sense to her, and she knew then she was falling in love with him. 

Meeting George Weasley was something Dolly was very keen to do, Fred had told her all about his twin brother, and she wanted to see the similarities for herself. 

In the end, Fred regretted granting her wish to meet his brother, because he received an owl from his mother a few days later, inviting him and Dolly to dinner. 

Fred had tried to warn Dolly about his family, about his father’s obsession with muggles and rubber ducks, and about Molly’s slightly overbearing style of parenting, despite the fact all of her children were now essentially grown ups. Though Ginny was the youngest and the only girl, she was probably the one Molly worried about the least. Dolly assured him she was prepared, and when the night came, she wasn’t as nervous as she thought she would be. She wasn’t officially Fred’s girlfriend, but she assumed she was at least well on her way to it. 

When they arrived at the Burrow, of course, everything went mad. All of Fred’s siblings and their partners were there. Dolly handed Molly a bunch of flowers, and Arthur a rubber duck, and soon she very much felt like part of the family. Fred had to mediate, to get his father to stop asking Dolly so many questions about being a muggle. Dolly didn’t mind, in truth, she used it as a chance to ask all of her questions about magic. Nobody mentioned the war, but Dolly could tell that the exhaustion that came from it still somewhat hung over the house. 

“Mrs Weasley, can I help you with dinner?” Dolly asked as she went into the kitchen to refill her wine glass. 

“It’s Molly dear, and I’m just trying to work out what I could do for dessert, normally I have things planned but it slipped from my mind today” Molly replied, putting a gentle hand on the young woman’s shoulder. Molly could see how fond of each other Fred and Dolly were, and she was glad to see another one of her children happy, after everything they’d been through. 

“I could make something? I know quite a few recipes by heart” Dolly replied, smiling weakly. Molly beamed at her, and asked her to make something. 

“Oh Dolly, that’s very kind of you, I’m happy to help of course” Molly said, and with that Dolly found herself with an apron on, making a pavlova for the whole family. 

At dinner, they all agreed they could taste the love that had gone into making it, and decided that Molly should learn how to make this from Dolly. 

Fred felt a great sense of pride, seeing his family enjoy a dessert made for them by his girl. He wasn’t sure whether he could call her his girlfriend yet, but she was certainly his, or he was hers. 

When Molly invited them to stay the night at the Burrow, in Bill’s old room, neither of them felt like they could say no, so Fred found himself lying in his older brother’s bed, enchanted years ago to fit two people, with Dolly by his side. Dolly settled down into the pillows. 

“Your family are lovely, Fred. Mad, but lovely” Dolly whispered. Fred laughed and settled down with her. 

“Not all magic families are as mad as us, there’s just quite a lot of us” He replied. 

“Still, lovely” Dolly said, running a delicate hand down Fred’s cheek. 

“Dolly, I love you” Fred said, so quietly Dolly wasn’t quite sure she’d heard him. 

“I love you too Fred” She replied, leaning in for a kiss. 

Fred Weasley and Dolly Butler married at the Burrow three years later, and their three children went on to be yet more Weasleys in the Hogwarts history books, causing as much chaos as their father had when he was there. 


End file.
